With new cafe, Hãnai Coffee expands job training for foster teens

Since the opening of its Laveen location in 2022, Hãnai Coffee has continued to support the Valley’s foster youth and those who have aged out of the foster care system. Expanding its mission to the West Valley, Hãnai opened its second location in May nestled inside Peoria City Hall.

Foster and adoptive parents, Ryan and Sara Senters founded Hãnai to provide an employment opportunity for foster teens, helping them gain experience in the workforce and develop essential life skills. Although job placement is the main goal of Hãnai, instilling confidence and independence into the lives of Arizona's foster youth is equally important to the Senters and their team.

The Senters had no immediate intentions to expand, but they couldn’t refuse the opportunity to open a second Hãnai when the former Peoria city hall cafe announced its closure. After just two weeks of fast-paced renovations, the new location opened its doors and has already experienced tremendous support from city officials and the community, according to Ryan.

Geared towards quick lunches and take-out for those working in nearby offices, the new Peoria location's food and drink menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches, coffee, teas and refreshers. Popular food offerings include the "Grown Up Grilled Cheese," buffalo chicken wrap, acai cup, breakfast burrito bowl and Nutella waffle.

The Peoria location also offers weekly specials to encourage regulars to try something new like a Southwest chicken salad or brie and chorizo toast. It also provides the employed foster youth with the autonomy to be creative and instills a sense of ownership over the menu — a key characteristic of the Hãnai brand.

Empowerment through job training

The West Valley location will also serve as a hub for the six-week work program led by Ohana, a social services agency founded by the Senters in 2015. Through hands-on work experience and life skills training, foster youth and special needs adults are encouraged to enter the workforce upon completing Ohana’s Work and Job Readiness Program.

According to Ryan, they have had about 40 graduates move on from the program since its initial launch two years ago. Although some choose to work at Hãnai, other graduates seek employment elsewhere.

“If they’re not necessarily into serving coffee and (their) interpersonal skills aren’t there but they are really good at technical stuff, we will figure out a job that’s good for them,” Ryan says.

Upon finishing the program, graduates are encouraged to apply for full-time employment at Hãnai or one of the local businesses Ohana partners with. From becoming a contractor at a construction company to scooping ice cream at a local dessert shop, Ohana's graduates have entered a variety of fields.

Community Engagement Director Andrea Hylton works closely with those participating in Ohana’s work program. She coaches four to six young adults at a time throughout the six-week program, educating them on stress management, how to communicate in a work environment, budgeting, money management, interviewing and resume writing.

After joining the Ohana team last fall, Hylton has helped develop a curriculum and continues to look for ways to keep the program running efficiently. However, Hylton says her responsibilities extend much further than administrative work as she is frequently who the youth turn to for advice.

“My job is mainly to just be that positive person that they never had," she says, "that person that they know they can just come and vent to and I’m their guide."

Regional Manager Savanna Kukurba partners with Hylton on training, scheduling and day-to-day operations. Although Kukurba is there to hold the youth workers accountable, Hãnai’s motto is to do so with grace and understanding while ensuring the teens learn how to be good employees.

“We can’t give them a false sense of security," Kukurba says, "we have to make sure that they know hey, your next job, it’ll be a little different. You know, there’s a balance."

By working at Hãnai, not only are Arizona's foster youth better equipped to enter adulthood but hopefully, they gain a greater understanding of their purpose with the passion to see it through, Ryan says.

"Watching them be able to develop self-confidence in the work (and) to be able to smile… as they are seeing a customer, and learning to make eye contact and greet,” Ryan says. “It sounds small but it’s pretty monumental.”

Hãnai Peoria City Hall

8401 W. Monroe St., Peoria